What if the bank buys the property at auction?
A. The bank just wants to get rid of it. Corner the bank’s representative and give him or her a letter saying you want to buy the property. You can offer less than the bank paid for it since obviously nobody bid more than the bank. Generally speaking, banks only buy those properties which are “underwater”, meaning that these properties have liens/debt in excess of the properties value. However a lot of this debt is “interest, penalties, and fees” imposed by the bank. If you buy from the bank after the auction, not only are they likely to waive their interest in these extra amounts, they may even discount the property slightly off the outstanding principal in order to get it off their books. Be sure to get the bank’s attention before they pass the property off to a broker to sell. By that time, it’s generally too late to get a good deal.
